COLUMBIA -- Even after state lawmakers agreed to provide a fraction of the $1.2 million the S.C. Department of Natural Resources requested for Bluffton’s 30-year-old Waddell Mariculture Center, Gov. Nikki Haley has vetoed the pared down amount.

The Republican governor said she supports DNR’s additional hydrologist and law enforcement positions, but took issue with the Waddell funds.

“When DNR filed its budget request for fiscal year 2013-14, the agency requested $903,000 in one-time money to address certain capital and maintenance needs for its marine research programs,” she wrote.

“Instead, this budget creates a new recurring special item that would provide DNR with over $350,000 per year for this facility on an indefinite basis.”

She was referring to the $353,000 the House and Senate had agreed to provide for the center's personnel and operations. The House had approved the $903,000 for maintenance along with the $353,000. But the Senate had not supported the facilities piece, so only the latter became part of the budget approved by lawmakers.

“I am prepared to reconsider a request for one-time funding for this facility next year, subject to the availability of funds,” wrote Haley in her veto message, released Tuesday.

“But in the meantime, responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources requires that we be disciplined enough to set priorities and only fund the most critical needs.”

The Waddell Mariculture Center, located on 1,200 acres at Victoria Bluff, supports South Carolina’s $1 billion saltwater fishing industry by stocking fish and developing sustainable farming techniques, among other activities.

The center is known up and down the east coast for its work, according to DNR director Alvin Taylor. He said in an earlier interview that the $903,000 estimate to fix cracked walls and other structural ailments could grow to $1.2 million next year, if conditions were left to worsen.

Lawmakers will return Wednesday to vote on whether to uphold or override the vetoes. A two-thirds vote in both chambers is required to overturn a veto.

In an email Tuesday, Sen. Tom Davis said he supports Haley's efforts to limit government growth and will vote to sustain most of her vetoes. But he will vote to override the veto of Waddell funding, calling it a core function of government, since Waddell’s mission is to protect the state’s fisheries.

He said the chairmen of the Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means committees have said repairs to Waddell’s facilities could be made with funding to come from existing DNR appropriations or reserves, or both.

“Rep. Bill Herbkersman and I, along with Rep. Weston Newton, will meet in the next few weeks with Al Stokes, the director of Waddell, to work on and subsequently submit to DNR for review and approval a proposed repair schedule,” said Davis. Newton and Herbkersman are Bluffton Republicans.

Taylor had requested the $1.2 million in February when he testified before a Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Williamsburg. The subcommittee had approved the $353,000 portion but asked for more time to consider the facilities money.

When asked in May why his subcommittee ultimately decided not to recommend it, McGill said: “I remember years ago when they built that Waddell center, it had a major impact on this state. But you’ve not heard a whole lot about it in recent years.”